The Mark of Sage
by Crystal Manning
Summary: Sage Moreaux has always been level-headed and remained cool under pressure. But when it's found that the effects of the particle accelerator explosion had a wider reach than expected, she finds herself skating on thin ice as she tries to make sense of her now altered life. After all, it's not every day you have a psycho with a freeze ray and a strange obsession on your tail. Right?
1. Prologue

_**Prologue**_

So, I'm sure by now you all know about the Particle Accelerator explosion and how it created The Flash (or so he will be named later) and all those evil metahumans and all that jazz, right? Good, remember that stuff but not too hard because this isn't about The Flash. Well, it _is_ but not as The Flash as you know him. But as I know him. I know him as Barry Allen. Well, _Bartholomew_ if I want to get under his skin which works out in my favor when I want something. He's always hated that name. Wait, who am I? Does the name Iris West ring a bell? It does? Good. I'm not her, though. I'm her cousin, Sage Moreaux. Nice to meet you! No, not that one with the movie-star looks and the designer clothes. _That_ one. The one clutching the coffee mug like her life depended on it.

Don't blame me, it kinda does. See, without a constant heat source my heart rate could slow down until I just drop dead on the sidewalk. Why? Well, it's because I have a lower body temperature than the rest of the world. Blame it on the Particle Accelerator explosion, it kinda messed things up for me. Have I piqued your interest? I have? Good. Well, sit back and relax because have _I_ got a story for you. It has your fair share of bad guys and super powers and betrayals and secrets and scandals and all that good stuff. This may be a story to _you_…but this is my life.

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><p>an - So, what did you think so far? Please leave a review! I'm super excited to write this story after watching The Flash on the CW. It's my new favorite show! Grant Gustin is the perfect Barry.


	2. Nine Months Before

**_Chapter 1_**

**_Nine Months Before_**

Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when an event occurs that changed their life. They're usually bad events that people remember in the most vivid manner. They remember what they were wearing, what was on TV, what was on the radio, what they could smell, what they were doing, what _time_ it was. Everything down to the very last detail. Sage Moreaux wasn't an exception to this.

The day started off normally, of course that's how all days start no matter how the rest of the day was to shape up. The sky was a shade of blue so bright that, coupled with the sun, it made Sage's eyes hurt when she peered out the window. She recoiled, blinking rapidly to try and adjust to the onslaught of bright light. Once they adjusted she noticed that the sky was cloudless. It was a nice, beautiful day. A smile curled upon her lips. It was a bike day for sure.

"Sage, are you up?" Iris West's voice was muffled through the other side of the wooden door. "I have to run to work but I made some breakfast for you."

Crossing the room, Sage wrenched open the door and peered up at her cousin. "You didn't 'make' eggs again, did you?" she asked, making a face. "Because the last time you did that you made them blow up. …And I'm still not sure how you managed that one."

Iris rolled her eyes; the action contradicted the smile on her face. "You're in the clear. Its oatmeal and toast and juice. I would have done more but I'm going to be late."

"And I'm glad you didn't," Sage said, "you know I hate it when you and Uncle Joe lavish on me. I've been here two months now. I pay rent—"

"Which we keep telling you we don't want," Iris interrupted, "You're _family_!"

"—and I intend to live like a proper college student like everyone else," Sage continued, waving away her words. She paused and then added with a cheeky grin, "Only with better housing."

Iris laughed. "But other than that you're a totally normal senior at CCU," she agreed.

"Exactly." Sage nodded. "Hey, have you heard from Barry yet? Wasn't he supposed to come back from that trip last night?"

"Yeah, he got back late. Enjoyed his time from what I heard. He's taking us to see that atom smasher…thing tonight," Iris replied. "We're supposed to meet up at his office around seven."

"As fun as standing around and watching something turn on _doesn't_ sound," Sage said with a teasing tone attached to her words, "I can't go anyway. I have to work tonight. So tell _Barfolomew_ I said hi and I'll catch up with him tomorrow. We can hang out and see a movie or something."

"I'm holding you to that," Iris replied. "So how's the IT thing going?"

Sage shrugged. "It's just a work study position so it's not like it's _horrible_. My extent of computer knowledge goes as far as restarting the computer to fix a problem, making it go back to an old restore point, and running a virus scan. That's as much as they trust me with, anyway. But I'm not doing that tonight; I'm working at the zoo. I'm a closer for the penguin exhibit. So tell Uncle Joe I may not get back until about nine. If I have extra time I want to get some homework done while I'm there."

"Okay, I'll see you later. I'll have a caramel coffee waiting for you if you stop by Jitters."

Sage beamed "See, this is why you're my favorite cousin."

Iris bid her cousin goodbye and walked down the hall, disappearing around the corner. Sage closed the door to her room and went over to her closet to pick out clothes for the day. As she scanned the bright and dark colored clothes hanging on the hangers, her mind turned over to Bartholomew Allen, or Barry as he preferred to be called.

She had known Barry since she was young but only saw him a few times out of the year when she came to Central City to visit her cousin and uncle. Her visits were sporadic but much anticipated all the same. After all, not everyone's uncle let them ride around in their cop car and mess with handcuffs and teach them some self defense despite their mom forbidding it. Heck, she had a better idea of the law due to her visits to the police department where she and Iris would play Cops and Robbers while Barry sat and sulked.

Granted, she understood his reasoning. It wasn't every day that someone's mother was murdered and their father was taken into custody and put under a life sentence due to being the suspected murderer. She wasn't even sure how Barry came out as level-headed as he was at twenty-five-years-old but it _was_ better than the sulking version of him that plagued her earlier visits. He wasn't fun so she tried to get him to lighten up as much as she could, mainly by teasing him and calling him names – "Barfolomew" being her favorite – but she tried to get him talking about his interests too. Boring science stuff but she tried. After all, he didn't have his own family to talk with anymore.

She always thought he would outgrow his science obsession but that quickly morphed into an odd fascination with forensics. Odd to her, a sort of coping mechanism for him. At least that's what Uncle Joe used to tell her. Whenever she sneered at how "weird" he was being he simply stated that it most likely had to do with the death of his mother. She didn't get it then, being only ten at the time of his mother's death, but now that she was older Barry Allen finally made sense to her.

Until he started talking, that is.

Sage yanked a jean jacket off of its hanger and looked it over. She glanced out the window, nodded, and then grabbed a t-shirt and jeans and ran for the bathroom. She took a quick shower – nearly killing herself from slipping on the wet floor – and rushed down the stairs for breakfast. She ate a few bites of the oatmeal, glad that Iris went with instant that time, took a few bites of toast, downed her juice, grabbed her helmet off of the coat rack by the door and rushed down the stairs.

She smiled at the sight of her motorcycle sitting in the driveway, waiting to be taken out for a ride. Of course her mother didn't want her to have it but she was over 600 miles away and her father owned a motorcycle dealership for crying out loud! Of _course _she wouldn't be stuck with a normal car when she grew up around the motorized bikes that made her eyes widen since she could comprehend what they were and what they could do.

She swung her leg over the seat and settled down until her feet touched the ground. She checked to make sure she was in neutral and everything was where it needed to be so as not to take off or mess up the engine. Once she was balanced and holding the brake down, she stuck and twisted the key in the ignition, and pushed the engine switch, smiling at the machine roaring to life. She pulled the helmet down over her head, making sure it was snug, double checked that her gloves were on properly and her boots were tied. She pulled the clutch in, shifted to first gear, kicked up the kickstand, let the clutch out, and started forward. She twisted the throttle a little bit to give it gas, lifted her feet, and turned out of the driveway and onto the road.

There was nothing more freeing than being out on the open road.

* * *

><p>"Weren't you supposed to go with your friend to that thing turning on?" Sage looked up from her notebook and smiled at one of her coworkers, Ashton Lennox. She bit into the green apple she was holding, the crunch punctuating the otherwise silent room.<p>

"I was," Sage replied, "but here I am in the wonderful world of zoology." She waved her arms around to motion to the office that she had occupied after her shift had ended. Classes had ended hours ago and after swinging by Jitters to talk to her cousin and to get a cup of coffee and a cronut to go, she rushed over to work where she was a part-time worker at the zoo. Her responsibilities included and were limited to aiding the trainer during feeding time and to overlook the exhibit for safety precautions. "Kinda glad I didn't have to listen to him go on and on about quantum physics or whatever it was he was babbling about. I've finally figured out he's the one that gives me headaches."

Ashton laughed. "Too bad. He's kinda cute," she commented.

"Yeah, in a nerdy, I wet my pants over a breakthrough about mold sort of way," Sage replied, tapping her pen against the paper. She chuckled at her own joke. "I'm gonna catch up with him and Iris later. The _real_ disappointing thing about all of this is that I can't see Wells in person."

Ashton's nose wrinkled. "Wells? He's old!"

Sage barely batted an eyelash. "He's hardly past forty-five, if anything, and he's handsome so there!" She sighed. "I'd deal with Barry's fascination with particle theory or whatever it is he goes on about if it meant I could be in the same room as him. Him Wells. He has to be super smart but I bet he's modest about it. God, have you _seen_ his eyes? They're the most breathtaking shade of blue I've ever seen in my entire life! Like the ocean! Not like a normal ocean though, more like that clear blue you see in the Bahamas or on a postcard or—"

"You're weird," Ashton interrupted her rant with a laugh and a shake of her head. "You really are."

"This coming from the girl who can look a lion in the eye and throw it chunks of meat every day and has a sick sort of interest with the carnage," Sage pointed out.

Ashton chuckled. "We're a bunch of freaks then."

"The best around," Sage replied with a wink. Ashton waved her free hand at her, signaling that she was leaving. Sage waved back and turned her focus back to her notebook. She had a Genetics test coming up soon that she had no chance of passing, if she were to be honest. Of course she knew she could ask Barry for help but he was always late whenever they were to meet up. That was classic Barry for you.

Sage rubbed at her eyes and tried to understand the difference between mitosis and meiosis and why they were important but it was hard. Even if she had shorthanded the information and wrote it in a way that was supposed to make sense it just didn't. It was like she was reading a completely different language.

Her efforts were momentarily paused when the door swung open again. She looked up, thinking that Ashton had come back for something but sat up straighter when she saw that it was her supervisor, Mrs. Armstrong. Mrs. Armstrong's eyebrows were lifted to the point it made Sage wonder if she had just gotten botox but, of course, that's not a question someone was supposed to ask outloud so she shoved the words down inside of her. "I'm guessing by the expression on your face that I forgot to do something," Sage guessed.

Mrs. Armstrong nodded. "You left the feeding bucket out again." Sage's face screwed up and she slapped her palm against her forehead. "It's not too big of a problem, we just don't want them playing with it or getting stuck. The penguins are already inside for the night. I can drive you over to get it and we can both go home."

"Long day?" Sage guessed as she flipped her notebook shut. She shoved her books into her bag and followed Mrs. Armstrong out of the room.

"It's about to be," Mrs. Armstrong sighed. "Lily got a detention."

"For…?" Sage asked, waiting for Mrs. Armstrong to fill in the blank. She knew all about how troublesome Lily was becoming. Barely thirteen and she was acting as if she were nineteen, drinking, going to wild parties. Sage suspected it had to do with Mrs. Armstrong in the middle of a divorce with her soon-to-be-ex-husband.

"Sending pictures to boys," Mrs. Armstrong replied, her voice tight. "You know the sort," she continued once she noticed the face that Sage was making. "I just don't understand how she learned this stuff or…or _why_ she's in such a rush to be older." She sighed. "What happened to the days of her painting her nails and playing with her tea set?"

Sage hummed. "Unfortunately, it's most likely her friends she's getting it from. Kids with technology these days have the world at their fingertips." The two exited the building and climbed into the small cart that was waiting for them. Sage threw her bag into the back and grabbed onto the side of the cart to keep from falling out as Mrs. Armstrong stepped on the gas pedal. "Aside from sitting her down and telling her the consequences of her actions, I suggest taking away her phone and computer as punishment. Or put up parent blocks. Or put up blocks and take away the charger to her computer. Hit her where it hurts. Everyone has a weak spot."

"And that's coffee for you," Mrs. Armstrong pointed out. At the offended look on Sage's face she continued, "You drink almost an entire pot of coffee by yourself. I knew college kids depended on it but…"

"I'm not _that_ bad," Sage protested. "I just like the taste, that's all."

"Mhm," Mrs. Armstrong hummed. A few minutes later she parked the cart in front of the penguin exhibit and shut it off. "Hurry up. I'm ready to get out of here."

"I'm going, I'm going," Sage replied, sliding out of her seat. It was raining so she wans't going to take her time to get herself and Mrs. Armstrong soaked. She rushed inside and navigated her way out to the outside portion of the exhibit. She passed by the structure with holes carved into it that the penguins popped in and out of during the day when they weren't swimming around. Sage spotted the bucket left atop of a nearby rock and kicked herself for forgetting about it. In fact, she wondered why Mrs. Armtstrong didn't get it herself but figured that there was some lesson about responsibility in there somewhere.

Her fingers barely curled around the handle of the bucket when a loud explosion stopped her. She whirled around and looked up at the sky. Her hazel eyes widened. A large, orange ball of…_something_ was popping up into the air. She brought a hand up and brushed it against her face to get the rain water away as she looked on.

A bright flash of light lit up the sky and it was followed by a beam of it shooting straight up, like a portal being opened in _The Avengers_. Her body froze. She gaped at the unbelievable sight as rain lashed down on her. An orb – a shockwave – pushed past her and made her stomach clench. She had to take a step back to keep her balance.

The hair on her arms stood up. She looked up and saw a flash. She felt heat on the left side of her body and it was followed by an even louder bang than the one before. It sent her flying off her feet. She let out a short scream before she plunged into the water behind her. Its cold hands gripped at her, pulled at her clothes, dragged her down. Needles poked into her skin and contracted her lungs, forcing all air inside of her out as she sank.

It was so cold. So cold. Her muscles remained still. Her heart thumped in her ears. The steady beat began to slow. _Ba….bump. Ba….bump_. Her lungs ached. The intensity of the cold water lessened as the seconds went by until she was numb.

Her lungs screamed in pain.

Darkness crept into the corners of her vision, taking over like blinds being pulled down over a window.

She saw a light. Her lungs couldn't take the pain anymore. She breathed in.

She was at peace.

Everyone remembers exactly where they were and what they were doing when an event occurs that changed their life. Sage was wearing her zoo uniform, the staff room TV was off, she didn't have a radio near her, the strong scent of fish was in the air, she was finishing up her duties for the day, and it was just a quarter past nine when the particle accelerator exploded.

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><p><em><strong>AN**_ - And here's the first chapter! Thanks to all those who have reviewed, fav'd, and alerted this story so far! I hope you enjoy this chapter. What do you think of Sage so far? Anyone else super excited for the FlArrow crossover next week? Please leave a review! Thanks for reading!

P.S. Also, to get an idea of what Sage looks like, picture Tinashe Kachingwe. Also, thanks Guest for pointing out my potential minor error!


	3. Nine Months After

**_Chapter 2_**

**_Nine Months After_**

Sage hated hospitals. It had nothing to do with her being stuck in one after the particle accelerator exploded. She only remembered flashes of that night: Mrs. Armstrong performing CPR on her while red and white lights flashed above her head, rolling down a brightly lit hallway with people in white coats yelling at her that she would be alright, Iris and Uncle Joe looming over her, tears staining their cheeks. It was almost as if she had dreamt the event.

But the medical charts were a little too real to be a dream. You know how they use big words when it comes to telling you your diagnosis? Sage hated it when the doctors did that. When she woke up and was conscious long enough to get the full story on what happened they danced around the subject until she finally couldn't take it anymore.

"What's wrong with me?" Sage had asked. Her voice was raspy from lack of use. She would have laughed due to sounding like an old lady but she was too confused. She sucked in a breath which was followed by a few quick and hard coughs.

"Well, due to you being submerged in unfavorably cold water for an extended period of time it seems that you body has gone into a moderate hypothermic state. Your body temperature has dropped to a concerning low and your blood vessels have gone into vasoconstriction in an attempt to retain your body heat. Your shivering should subside as we get you warm. We believe that you may also be suffering from Bradycardia but we will perform some tests to be sure. We have no cause to believe that you have suffered from frostbite despite how long you were in the water." The doctor smiled and placed a latex covered hand atop of her head. Something about the gesture warmed her up, though not in the way that she wished the scratchy blanket that was tucked around her would. "Don't worry. You will be up on your feet soon."

"Soon" had to be a relative saying for the doctors because it took a little over two weeks for her to finally be released from the hospital. It didn't take long to get her warmed up – they kept her covered in blankets and made her lie in bed with a heating pad as well as continue to enable her coffee addiction – but that wasn't the cause of concern to keep her there longer than they anticipated. It was the fact that her body temperature would drop right back down a few hours later and her heart rate was still at a low level as expected in a senior citizen and not an otherwise healthy twenty-one-years-old.

But even then that still wasn't what made her hate hospitals. It was receiving the news that Barry was there too, that Barry had gotten struck by lightning and they didn't know anything about his condition and that they wouldn't let her visit him as soon as she heard the news. Surely wasn't a good idea to keep a panicking, worried, concerned patient essentially locked up.

When she was finally freed she ended up spending as much time as possible by Barry's bedside waiting for some news or for him to wake up but every time she visited – whether by herself or with Iris or Joe or both – he laid there as if he was just…peacefully sleeping. As if whatever dream he was having was much better than coming back to reality to be with them. After all, who was Sage without her Barfolomew to tease and make fun of and then turn around and beg for his help to translate her bio homework?

Time slowly went on and she had to move on with her life as well as the others. It was hard, of course, pretending that everything was okay when it really wasn't. But her grades were slipping and she needed to keep them up if she was going to keep her work-study position and she _needed_ that position or else her mother would get her on the next plane back to Montreal and she couldn't have that.

It was like watching years flash before her eyes in those nine months. Uncle Joe's old partner was replaced with "Pretty Boy" aka Eddie Thawne. Rookie cop at the time, she met him a few times at the hospital. She found him aesthetically pleasing, much like Iris did, but that was as far as that went. He was a bit _too_ pretty for her and besides, he was a temporary distraction to an ongoing problem. And maybe he was what Iris needed but it didn't make Sage feel any better.

Her busy days were filled with intruding, horrible thoughts about Barry. What if he didn't wake up? What if he was permanently stuck in his coma? What if he came out different? What if he wasn't _Barry_ anymore? What if he wasn't the same science-loving, forensic researching, constantly-running-late, insufferably dorky Barry? Maybe if she had gone with them then none of that would have happened…

Sage shook her head and ran her hand through her hair, trying to dislodge those thoughts. She frowned when her fingers snagged on her hair. Huffing, she reached her other hand up and detangled her hair right as Iris approached with her coffee in a to-go cup. Her mouth watered at the caramel scent that wafted through the opening.

"You're going to take your hair out if you don't take off those gloves," Iris commented, crossing her arms.

"They're for protection, silly," Sage replied, flexing her fingers in the tight leather gloves.

"Yeah, when you're on your motorcycle. You're not riding one now," Iris pointed out.

Sage's eyes shifted around Jitters until they rested on her coffee. "Yeah, but my hands are in the vicinity of coffee. Scalding hot flavored water. If I just so happened to knock this over onto my delicate hands I could end up with second degree burns. And you wouldn't want that for your favorite cousin, right?"

Iris scoffed. "Maybe cutting down on the coffee would help with that. Isn't this your third cup this morning?"

"You're talking to me like I'm some sort of alcoholic," Sage said, her words a low grumble. "And! If I ever murdered someone or needed to break in somewhere, I would never get caught because _bam! _No finger prints!" She wiggled her fingers in the air.

"And if there is a string of thefts and murders without fingerprints I know who to stick my boyfriend on," Iris pointed out. Sage muttered something about having connections which made Iris laugh. "At any rate, I'm surprised you manage to sleep with how wired you must be. Your light is on past two. I hear you scrambling around in the kitchen like a rat at four."

"Hey, I take offense to that!"

"Well, I mean, you _do_ like your sweets—"

"I meant the 'rat' part," Sage interrupted her. She reached forward and picked up her to-go cup and took a sip of her coffee. "I take offense to _that_. Rats are disgusting and I, for one, am not disgusting."

"Have you _seen_ yourself devour cake?" Sage tried to hold her frustrated pout but Iris's laugh made her mask break and she started laughing as well. "D'you work today?" Iris continued.

"Yeah, just some IT stuff after school and then I'm done for the day," Sage replied. Iris didn't miss the bored tone latched to her cousin's words and lifted her eyebrows. "Some of the people who bring their stuff in really don't need my help. It's annoying! I actually had to take time to teach a professor to _insert_ a _page break_."

"And…that's not part of your job?" Iris asked.

"Well, I was troubleshooting why their computer was running slow – it was connection issues rather than their computer – and they asked me about a book they were writing and the formatting. Long story short, I'm now giving her a crash course on Microsoft Word shortcuts." Sage clicked her tongue and said in an unenthusiastic manner, "Yay me."

"Not everyone grew up in our internet generation," Iris pointed out. "Anyway, I have to get back to work. Have a good day and we can have dinner later."

"Alright. Call me if you hear any news about Barry," Sage replied. It made both girls take pause. They didn't expect to hear anything anytime soon. There was no change in the past eight months and some days, what would be different about today? "See ya."

"See ya."

Sage picked up her coffee, waved to her cousin and Tracy, the other worker, and moved past an incoming customer to leave. Once outside she took another sip of her coffee only to make a face at the small burn on the tip of her tongue. How had she missed that before? Glancing around she then removed the lid from her cup and then used her teeth to pull off one glove. She briefly dipped her index finger into the coffee and then removed it. She licked away the whipped cream on top and then took a sip. The temperature was perfect now.

**# # #**

"Wait! So you can copy and paste without having to highlight and click?" Professor Adams asked, his eyes wide behind his coke bottle glasses. His eyes appeared two times larger behind the lenses due to them widening in awe.

"Yes. There are a lot of shortcuts in Microsoft word and internet browsers to make your work that much simpler," Sage replied. Her voice was tight but despite that she kept a smile on her face as she hovered over Professor Adams' shoulder. "For example, if you make a mistake and want to undo what you just did, hold the control button and then push z and it will take it all back."

As soon as those words left her mouth she knew she would live to regret it. Professor Adams sat in his chair for the next five minutes typing random sentences only to remove them using the shortcut. Sage huffed and glanced at the clock on the wall. At this rate she wouldn't be able to leave for the next two hours. Especially with Professor Adams's hunt and peck technique. They hadn't even breeched the subject on what was really wrong with his computer. Which didn't seem like it was going to be that hard to fix. Which was the problem. All of it could have been taken care of over the phone.

"Sir, if we could get back to your source code problem—"

"This is magnificent!" Professor Adams gushed, ignoring Sage's efforts to get her work done. "Who knew so many things could be done just with a few taps on the keyboard! You learn something new every day." He laughed and looked up at Sage. "I guess it _is_ possible to teach and old dog some new tricks."

"Hey, even an old dog has a certain zest for life, right?" Sage asked, shrugging her shoulders. She exhaled and shoved her hands into her pockets as best as she could. Her gloves sometimes got caught on the way into her pockets.

A nearby door swung open. A few students, classmates of Sage's, walked out of the room, talking and laughing over something. Sage locked eyes with one of the girls whose smile froze on her face. Then her eyes jumped back to her friends to form the trio who followed her gaze back to Sage. Sage was the one to look away. It was easier to deal with their comments when she didn't have to look at them.

"Yeah, that's her. She's so weird. Always wearing those gloves."

"Are her hands disfigured or something?"

"Yuck. I'd wear gloves too if that was that case."

"I asked her about it once. She said it was to protect her manicure. Can you believe that?"

"Ugh, how self-centered."

"I _know."_

Her fingers curled in her gloves, making them emit a light creaking sound. She pressed her lips together and exhaled through her nose. Anything to calm down. Though the anger swelling through her it did help her heart a little bit; it quickened its pace and felt as if it had returned to somewhat normal. Whatever that was. It's been nine months and she didn't remember what her heartbeat – a normal heart beat – was supposed to feel like.

They didn't understand what it was like to be her. To be isolated. To not have the ability to get close to anyone. Sage exhaled again, turning back to look over Professor Adams' shoulder. He sat up straight in his chair and looked around. His large, wrinkled hand rubbed the back of his neck.

"Is there a draft in here?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed together. "I just got quite a chill."

Sage breathed out again. A cloud came out of her mouth, as if she were standing in a freezer or out in the cold. Her eyes widened and her chest heaved. More visible puffs of air came out of her mouth. _No, not now. Not here._

"Professor Adams, I have to go," Sage muttered, hastily grabbing her papers and books and shoved them into her bag. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help with your computer today but I'll get to it tomorrow, I promise. I just…something came up."

Her scrambling became more frantic as the seconds wore on. She tried to clench her fingers but they moved much slower than they did before. The tips of her fingers tingled, as if circulation was beginning to get cut off. She didn't have much time left.

"Oh, not to worry Ms. Moreaux," Professor Adams said as he stood. He smoothed his tie down with his hands over his rotund stomach. "We can do this another time. You have already taught me something new, you have done your part."

"Yeah, great, thanks," Sage muttered, grabbing her helmet off the nearby table. She stumbled a little over the wires of the computers lined up in the open-area computer lab at the top of the science building they occupied. She managed to regain her balance by running forward and slung her bag over her shoulder. "See you tomorrow."

"Ah, god speed Ms. Moreaux."

"Yeah yeah. Live long and perspire," Sage threw over her shoulder. The words barely fell out of her mouth before she was taking off down the spiral staircase in the middle of the room. She nearly fell down the last few of the stairs due to tripping on the loose laces of her boots in her haste but she managed to get out the front door to the building.

She ran around the side of the building, glancing over her shoulder to see if she had been followed or anyone was looking in her direction. The sidewalks surrounding the building was crowded with people bustling about. Gritting her teeth, feeling her temples pound, Sage ran until she made it to an emptied alleyway.

All of Uncle Joe's warnings sounded off like alarm bells in her head but there was one louder noise – a warning siren – that eclipsed the alarm bells. Throwing her helmet aside, Sage bit the tops of her gloves to pull them off. It was much faster than if she had used her hands. Besides, she was sure that she could take on anyone who would try and cross her at the moment.

"Please no, please no," she gasped, staring at her shaking hands. Her normally tan skin was pale on her hands. The veins in the back appeared bluer than they were before and they wouldn't stop shaking. They were cool to the touch as she rubbed them together, trying to generate some heat to them. But that was all for naught as they shook harder. "No, no, _no!_"

Then it happened. A light blue glow appeared around her hands and then a split second later a bright beam, the same color of her hands, shot out and struck the nearby metal trashcan. The force of the blast knocked her off her feet and she landed on her back with a hard thud. Cracks, pops, and squeaks pierced the air. Rolling onto her stomach, Sage made sure not to touch her face with her still glowing hands as she glanced over at the object of her destruction.

The metal garbage can bounced bright sunlight not from its metallic body but from the layer of ice sitting atop of it. The ground beneath the garbage can was slick with an invisible layer of ice, cracks marred the surface. Icicles hung from the handle of the garbage can and dripped water droplets due to the warm sun.

Beads of sweat lined Sage's forehead as her hands steadily went back to their normal temperature. The glow faded and the natural pigment to her skin returned back to normal. She pushed against the ground and got to her feet, doing her best to stand up on her shaky legs. The throbbing in her head subsided and she ran her tongue across her dry lips as she approached the garbage can. The ice wasn't too thick, thankfully. The sun could take care of that. She was just glad it wasn't another person.

Grabbing her abandoned gloves off the ground, she pulled them back over her hands right as her cell phone rang. She removed it from her pocket, glanced at the caller icon on her screen, and lifted the phone to her ear.

"What's up, Cuz?" she addressed Iris.

"It's Barry!" Iris nearly shouted into the phone. Sage jerked it away from her ear, blinking rapidly. When she finally brought her phone back to her ear she could hear Iris yelling, "—awake! He's awake! He's _here_!"

Sage's breath caught in her throat. Her heart beat hard against her chest. A ringing sounded in her ear. But this wasn't a cause for concern. Not this time.

Barry Allen was awake.

* * *

><p><strong>an** - **1)** Whoa! Guys! Thanks so much for your feedback! I didn't expect to get this much of a response when I posted this story but eleven reviews for the last chapter? Thanks so much! And Barry's awake! What will happen next? You have to wait for the next chapter to find out.

**2)** Also, that Flarrow crossover. What did you guys think? I loved the Flash part of the crossover, the Arrow part, to me, didn't exactly live up to the Flash but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Barry geeking out over the Arrow was adorable!

**3)** This Flash story crosses over with Arrow at a few points but I didn't feel it would be so important to the point I needed to put it in the crossover category. But Team Arrow will appear!

That's all! Didn't mean for the author's note to get this long. Please leave a review, I'd love to hear what you all think!


	4. Catching Up

_**Chapter 3**_

_**Catching Up**_

The fact that her uncle could help her with any sort of trouble she could get into wasn't lost on Sage. Hell, she knew she wouldn't hesitate to use her connections with her family to get any sort of record expunged. It wasn't like she was _speeding_ to get to the Police Department. Part of the way she could get her motorcycle was that she followed every rule of the road (that she could remember anyway) and she had stuck by them so far. But, at the same time, she wasn't moving at a snail's pace to get there to see that Barry was awake in person.

It had been nine months after all. Nine months that her friend had been in a coma—sleeping, she reasoned, to make it sound better—he was finally awake. But so much time had moved on without him. She wasn't the same as she was before. Not exactly. Would _he_ be the same or would he be different? He was the one who missed out on events more than they did but there was a sense of loss on both ends. Not the same sort of loss but loss nonetheless.

Sage hoped that their reunion would seal the hole that was left wide open and pulsated in a way that neither eating nor binge watching shows on Netflix could cure. It was strange not having Barry around those nine months. It almost felt as if he had merely been on a long vacation. What could they talk about now? Would he rather be treated differently or like nothing had changed? There were so many questions and not enough answers.

It didn't take long for her reach the parking lot of the police department. She shut off the vibrating vehicle between her legs and balanced on her tip toes on the ground. She ducked her head to remove her helmet and looked up at the large building. She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. This was it. Barry was inside and he was awake and alive and everything would go back to normal.

**To: Iris  
><strong>_Coming in now. Also –  
>how much potential trouble will<br>I be in for admitting to running  
>a red light on my way here? Oops!<em>

Slipping her phone back into her pocket she quickly came up with an excuse that she was just so excited at Barry being awake that she couldn't wait to get there to see him. They had to believe that. It was almost as good as an excuse as rushing to bring a wife going into labor to the hospital. Some people got police escorts even! Sage was sure her excuse could be hand waved and taken care of.

Swinging a leg over her bike, she shoved her keys into her pocket and jogged in towards the large building. She darted this way and that to avoid those that milled about on the sidewalk but her little dance to maneuver around those in her way only lasted for so long. She didn't have enough time to stop herself from crashing into a man that had stepped in her way.

"Whoa! Sorry dude! Er, sir. Sorry _sir!_" Sage apologized, stumbling to keep her balance. "Sorry. I just…someone's waiting for me in there and I'm excited to see him." She pressed her lips together, feeling the onslaught of words building up in her mouth and bouncing off her clenched teeth. He didn't need to be bored with details that didn't pertain to him. Then, a second later, she realized what she had said and opened her mouth, releasing the flood gates. "Not that they're in jail or anything! 'Cause they're not! They didn't do anything bad! I don't have friends that are criminals or anything of the sort."

The man stared at her, the blank expression on his face not changing. His cold, steel-like eyes bored into her and made her words die off as if an invisible hand was squeezing her throat, cutting off all noise. A bead of sweat collected at the side of her head from the mere intensity of his stare. Her body began to tremble. Sweat flooded her palms and pooled under her arms. Why was he staring at her like that?

She managed to breathe out and then her eyes widened at the sight of her cloud-like breath. Curling her fingers into fists, she could already feel a chilling sensation start at her fingertips and slowly crawl up towards her palm. "Sorry—I gotta go!"

Sage turned and flew up the stairs into the police department. She managed to slip past the security guard standing by the door, of which she always found funny. It was a building already filled with police officers, why did they need another one standing by the door to guard them all? It just didn't make sense.

"Ah, Ms. Moreaux. I bet I know why you're here," the security guard greeted her with a smile. "Go on up, they're all waiting for you." He tilted his head in the direction of the stairs as a smile appeared on his face. It was contagious; in the next second Sage was beaming from ear to ear and her brief encounter with the strange staring man was a thing of the past as she darted towards the stairs. She met up with Uncle Joe and Eddie who were coming down on her way up.

"Hey! Uncle Joe, Pretty Boy, where are you headed?" she asked, pausing on the stairs.

"Bank robbery in progress," Uncle Joe replied, briefly stopping on the stairs to lean over and kiss her forehead. "Might be late tonight. Leftovers are in the fridge."

"Sage, you know my name is Eddie," he said, his mouth twisting to the side. "Do you have to keep calling me Pretty Boy?"

"Do you have to look as good as you do?" she shot back. She smiled when he appeared torn between being amused and frustrated. "If you didn't catch that, he answer is yes. I have to call you Pretty Boy. Anyway, I'm not here to stare at you—"

"Thankfully," he muttered.

"—I have a Barry to see. How's he look?"

"Exactly the same," Uncle Joe replied. "Boy gets struck by lightning, doesn't look any different from the day he was hit."

Sage pouted. "No scars? No lightning trees? No disfiguration?" Uncle Joe shook his head. "What a bummer!" Uncle Joe and Eddie exchanged a look before turning it to Sage. A few seconds of their incredulous gaze and her body jolted with realization. "Not that I want anything to _actually_ be wrong with him of course," she stated, hastily waving her hands. _Though it would make him much more interesting_, she added in her mind. "Go catch some bad guys!"

She turned on her heel and jogged up the rest of the stairs before Uncle Joe or Eddie could say anything to her. She took them two at a time and easily navigated her way to the offices where she had to dodge police personnel moving around minding their own business. She burst into the office and looked around. Her eyes easily sought out her tall friend who stood by Iris.

"_Barry!_" she yelled so loudly that it made some people stop and look to see who was yelling. But she didn't care. There he was, in the flesh. She closed the distance between them in an instant and threw her arms around his neck. She expected him to smell like charred bacon or something but he still smelled the same way: like a combination of sweet cologne and dryer sheets.

"Sage! Oh, it's so good to see you!" Barry said as he squeezed her back. Her feet left the ground as he hugged her tight and he beamed down at her once her feet touched the ground once more. "Look at you. You look great."

"You do too, Mr. I Was Struck By Lightning," she agreed, punching him on the arm. "Hell, you even look well rested. Maybe we all should get struck."

"Not with the way static frizzes my hair," Iris commented, running her hand over her own hair to smooth it down.

"With how long you take in the bathroom with your flatiron I didn't think it was possible for you to ever get frizzy hair," Sage teased, sticking out her tongue. "But really," she continued, turning to Barry, "are you okay? You wake up out of nowhere and you're _walking_ and you're _fine_?"

"Yeah," he replied, shrugging. "I've never been better. Really."

"And there's no side effects? No twitching? No spasms? No sensitivity to light? Nothing?" With every suggestion Sage poked Barry in the arm, as if waiting for something to happen, like for antlers to grow out of his head or wings to pop out of his back.

"Do you…_want_ something to be wrong with me?" Barry asked, chuckling.

"There already _is_ something wrong with you," Sage pointed out in a teasing tone, "you think Science is _fun_."

"Hey, there's always something new being discovered or something new to learn," Barry protested. "It's one of the more interesting subjects out there. I mean, with math you have certain limitations on what you can do. History, everything has happened and you can't really learn anything new with something that has already occurred. Not in the same sense, anyway. But Science! There are no limitations whatsoever! You can do anything! You can make anything! The cure to cancer can be discovered tomorrow."

Iris and Sage exchanged a look at Barry's gushing before smiling. Watching his face light up and that sparkle appear in his eye was something Sage didn't know she had missed until that moment. So what if she had to listen to him rant about something she didn't care for and knew nothing about? Just hearing him talk again sent a batch of warm fuzzies flying through her body. Her heart jumped and her lips curled up into a smile. It was the same ol' Barry alright. No lightning strike could ever change that.

"Oh! But enough about me, Joe says you suffered from the explosion too," Barry said, turning his attention to Sage. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye, as if waiting for her to start to mutate beneath his gaze. "You were in the hospital? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, just had some hypothermia. I'm fine," Sage replied, shrugging him off. "No a big deal compared to you. Iris and Uncle Joe helped nurse me back to health. Just a bit sensitive to the cold now." _And then some_, she mentally added.

"Is that what the gloves are for?" he asked, motioning to them. "Uh, interesting fashion statement."

"I convince her to get a manicure one time and the next thing I know it's like she's trying to preserve it," Iris said with a roll of her eyes although a smile sat on her face.

Barry's eyebrows lifted. "You…go a manicure?" he asked. Sage shrugged her shoulders while bobbing her head in an affirmative nod. He blew out a breath and ran a hand through his short hair. "Wow…I've been out of it for a while then, huh? To miss something like that."

"S'not that big of a deal, Bare," Sage mumbled. She bit her lip as Iris looked down at her feet and Barry shoved his hands into his pockets. An elephant landed smack dab in the middle of the room thanks to Barry bringing it up. Sage was fine with the hints here and there. The only constant reminder that Barry had't been there was Barry not being there. Otherwise they had gone on with their lives perfectly fine.

Well, not _perfectly_ fine. There were times at dinner that Iris had to excuse herself to go cry. She had taken time out of every day to visit him at the hospital and hen at S.T.A.R. Labs when he had been moved. It was all so easy for her to get up and go. After getting out of the hospital Iris had to practically drag Sage o visit Barry which, at the time, had put a strain on their relationship. It wasn't that she didn' want to see Barry, but it was that she couldn't.

She couldn't stop wondering if things had been different had she gone with them. Had she not made fun of his interests so much and ried to take her own interest in the subject? Would they have stayed longer? Would they have been out of harm's way and not end up where they were now?

"Hey," Barry said quietly. Sage lifted her head, not noticing that her attention had shifted to their feet. Smiling, he grasped her gloved hand and then grabbed Iris's free hand and gave them a squeeze. Her cousin looked almost as troubled as she did. "Guys, I'm okay. I'm alive and well. See?" He dropped their hands and did a little jig on the spot that made the two girls crack smiles. "I'm alright. Everything will be fine."

"Alright Barry ball of sunshine," Sage said with a roll of her eyes. "How about a round of coffees? We can catch up."

Barry laughed. "Nice to know you're still as obsessed with coffee as before."

"It's her lifeline," Iris teased.

_No kidding_. Sage stuck her tongue out at the two who smiled at her. Barry's smile quickly faded as he turned and his eyes rested on the memorial for Chyre. Iris explained what happened to him, how he had gotten shot when they were trying to catch the Mardon brothers when Chyre had gotten fatally shot.

Sage remembered his funeral. It was nice as far as funerals go; everyone had good memories of him and something nice to say. But his children didn't fully understand what was going on, them being so young. That's what made Sage's heart ache that day, more so than Uncle Joe's partner having been taken away from them. A father had been taken away from his children and as far as they knew it was for no reason.

Sage blinked and was brought back to the present when a strange gust of wind displaced her hair and Barry appeared troubled and quick sick. He was breathing heaving and his face was slick with a light coating of sweat. A captured criminal was shouting as two police officers lead him away in handcuffs.

"Barry, are you alright?" Iris asked, her words laced with concnern.

"I-I'm fine," Barry stammered, his eyes darting around. "I'll call you later, okay? Meet up with you two for that coffee." He barely muttered an excuse me before he brushed past them and ran off.

"Well, lightning didn't zap his weirdness, that's for sure," Sage commented.

"Sage, be nice," Iris chastised her. "He just woke up from a long coma. Cut him some slack. It may take him a while to readjust." Offering up a smile she looped her cousin's arm with her own. "Come on; let's get started on that coffee. Barry can catch up later."

The two girls left the offices and walked arm in arm out of the building. Iris began talking to her about a customer she had that morning that didn't seem to like anything she did to make his perfect cup of coffee. It was too hot, it was too cold, there was too much foam, there was not enough foam, the milk tasted funny, and she was skimping on the whipped cream.

But Sage was only half listening as the two girls descended the front stairs of the police department. Her attention had landed on the man from before, who was standing in the entrance of the diner across the street, Motorcar. His eyes bored into her and made her falter. Her foot missed a step and her heart jumped up into her throat as she stumbled forward. She managed to catch her balance before taking a large tumble down the stairs.

"Are you alright?" Iris asked, helping Sage back to her feet.

"Yeah. I, uh, always miss that step. I'm good," Sage replied, getting to her feet. She brushed dirt off her knees and looked across the street from beneath her fringe.

The man was gone.


	5. Wired

_**Chapter 4  
><strong>_

_**Wired**_

The loud, pulsating music that boomed in the room covered up the sounds of their shoes squeaking and stomping against the floor as their bodies moved in unison to the preset steps given to them. There was nothing like a good dance class to make Sage feel as if she were on top of the world. Her movements were fluid, each step merging into the next one as muscle memory worked to help her perform. She loved the lemon-like smell that permeated throughout the room.

She loved the way her heart appeared to beat in time with the music as she danced with the other girls. She loved the sense of freedom and clarity that being wrapped up in the music could provide. And the fact that she could share the experience with other girls in her class was a blessing. Music could relieve pain and take the listener to a suspended sense of reality in a three second and thirty minute time span. It was a magical thing that Sage held dear.

She wasn't a weirdo when she was on the dance floor. She wasn't a monster. She wasn't a killer. She couldn't wreak havoc and lose control with her mind focused on the steps. She could be herself. She could be _normal_. Her dance class was the only time she felt like her old self. It was astounding how a short span of nine months could make her feel like a completely different person.

"Okay girls, that's enough for today!" the woman at the front of the room called while clapping her hands together. "Good practice. See you all next time." She turned away from the group of girls who were now milling about and spoke quietly to the man that had been watching them dance from their first sequence. The girls would have ignored him if it weren't for his briefcase and the large, dark sunglasses covering his eyes. Who wore sunglasses indoors anyway?

Sage crossed the room to where her gym bag laid waiting for her. Chest heaving as she worked to get her breath back, she grabbed a bottle of water that was in it and then went for her phone. Her eyebrows crinkled at the blinking blue light in the top right corner, signaling she had a message of some sort. Her eyebrows came together even further when the screen lit up and she saw the amount of texts that were waiting to be read. Her thumb hovered over the screen as she took a swig of her water, only to spit it out when one of the other dancers, Lennox, slapped her on the back.

"So who do you think he's going to pic?" Lennox whispered, her eyes trained on the man.

Sage wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and glanced over at the man herself. "Who? Him? Pick For what? Does he need people to help him make an entrance into the room or something? I mean, it'd be less conspicuous than just bursting in on a bunch of girls dancing. And less creepy."

Lennox rolled her eyes. "No! Sage, don't you know who that is?" She hissed.

Sage twisted her mouth to the side. "Uh….James Bond?" she guessed.

Lennox grabbed Sage's arm and gave it a squeeze. "That's a scout. But not just a scout. _The_ scout. Jeremy Fox. He's partnered up with the Queens and is looking for new talent to perform some nights out in Starling City. You gotta have it all, the moves, the voice, the charisma. They want a new act for Verdant."

"Verdant's reopening?" Sage asked, her eyes widening. Verdant was Starling City's _hottest_ nightclub. It helped that it was run by the Queens. Everything they touched turned to gold. But then Queen Consolidated got bought out and Verdant shut down. New nightclubs had opened up but they never lived up to what the Queens had built. Of course there were their own nightclubs in Central City but nothing could compare to Verdant.

Iris and Sage had attended once before when they took a Girls Trip out there. There was a lot of pouting and begging to let Uncle Joe allow them to go and he did. Eventually. With the promise that they had to call him every hour and that they were to text him every time they left the hotel or went somewhere new so he had tabs on their location.

The trip ended up a blast. They explored the city, visited Verdant, ate some of the local cuisine, and took part in a few tours. (Sage tried to coax out Iris's natural journalistic curiosity in an attempt to see The Glades but Iris shot that down.) It would have been the perfect weekend had Uncle Joe not sent Chyre after them to spy. "Recon," Uncle Joe said. "Stalking," Iris shot back. It was still brought up whenever they thought Uncle Joe was getting a bit out of hand with his protective nature.

"Yep." Lennox nodded. "And I hear whoever gets the gig they'll cover transportation and housing depending how far they're traveling. They're looking for the best of the best."

Sage's nose wrinkled. "And they came here? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love the girls but Susie has flat feet and I don't think Kelly can tell her left from her right sometimes and _Michelle_—" Lennox elbowed Sage in the side and she cut off her teasing remark by sticking out her tongue. "But dude! This is so cool! Whoever he chooses is gonna have it _made._" She sighed. "Imagine having _Oliver Queen_ watch you perform."

"Imag having _Thea Queen_ watch you perform," Lennox shot back with a smirk.

Sage laughed. "We're never going to agree on that front are we?"

"No. But I will agree with you on the fact that they have really good genes." Chuckling, Lennox flashed a peace sign and joined the mass clog the girls had made on their way out the door. Sage shook her head and knelt to zip up her bag. Lennox was a trip. She was glad that she had a friend in the class, even if they didn't see each other every day. It made her feel less alone.

With a grunt, Sage grabbed the strap on her bag and lifted it up. The weight on her shoulder made her sway a little on the spot but she regained her balance. She waved goodbye to their instructor and followed the trickle of students out the door. Her attention then switched to her phone in her hand to see what had gone on that was so important that she had been bombarded with texts from Iris.

**To: Sage  
>From: Iris<br>**_Text me back as soon  
>as you get this.<em>

**To: Sage  
>From: Iris<br>**_It's important! Text me!_

**To: Sage  
>From: Iris<br>**_Barry knows about Eddie.  
>He saw us at Jitters. SOS!<em>

**To: Sage  
>From: Iris<br>**_Almost got hit by a car.  
>Barry and dad are fighting.<br>Need to talk NOW!_

Sage would have rolled her eyes and thought that Iris was being a tad overdramatic as usual until she read the last text. Her breath cut off and she had to stop walking to reread the text a few times to be sure she hadn't made up what it said. Questions shot through her head but none managed to stick on any sort of answer that could even potentially be formed in her mind.

Yelling a goodbye to the woman at the front desk of the dance studio Sage grabbed her bag to keep it from slapping against her side as she ran down the street to CC Jitters. She mumbled apologies as she ran, doing her best to avoid knocking into people. But with her bag as an extended version of her, she wasn't doing a good job due to her haste.

Her heart pounded against her chest and her sides ached from how fast she ran. Wind whistled in her ears and tugged on her clothes and her bag to slow her down. The traffic on one corner was what finally made her take pause. She leaned against a nearby pole, her eyes jumping from the traffic lights to the cars as she waited for a break to jog across.

The lights changed from green to yellow. Sage placed her hand on the pole to keep herself up as her world tilted. She gave her head a shake and looked around again. The sidewalk came up at an angle. Her once hard beating heart began to slow to irregular beats. She felt as if an elephant was sitting on her chest, keeping her from getting proper air. A jackhammer went off in her head. A pool of sour tasting saliva pooled on her tongue as her stomach turned and flopped.

_No. Not now! Please not now!_

Her knuckles turned white as she put her weight on her palm to keep herself up. She tried to wrack her brain and figure out how long it had been since she last had a cup of coffee but it wouldn't cooperate. The busy city scene in front of her dipped and swayed and all of the colors began to blend together, like a rainbow being sucked down a drain.

"Hey? Are you okay?" Sage blinked a few times and looked up to see a man looking at her in a peculiar way. "It says walk." He pointed to the indicator on the other side of the street that outlined a white walking figure.

"Th-thanks," Sage gasped and sprinted forward. Her once quick movements felt slow, like trudging through mud that clawed and reached for her feet, dragging her down. But she fought on. Each step made her head throb with an ache that she was sure equated to having a drill pressed to her head.

Finally CC Jitters came into view. Sage was staggering by that point. Her knees bent but it didn't help her carry herself that far. People stared at her, their concern a fleeting expression that was then switched over to disgust. Sage stumbled through the front door of Jitters and made a beeline for Tracy behind the counter.

"Hey Sage. Let me guess you're here for—_whoa!_" Tracy's eyebrows jumped up and her mouth fell open at the sight of Sage's disheveled hair and her pale face and trembling body. "Sage, are you alright? You look sick. Do you need a doctor?"

"N-no," Sage uttered despite the strong tremors shooting through her body. "Just n-need c-coffee. Now."

"Lady, can't you see there's a line?" a disgruntled man in a business suit demanded from behind her. "A line of _paying_ customers?"

"Hey, sorry. It's alright, she's with me," Iris apologized, coming out of the back room. She flashed a smile to the customers in line and grabbed Sage by the upper arm, pulling her away. "But Tracy's right, you don't look so good." Iris placed a hand on Sage's forehead. "Hmm. You're not burning up. But you're really cold."

"You sh-should f-feel my h-h-hands," Sage replied, her teeth chattering. "J-just…gimmie some c-c-coffee. Please."

"Sage, I really think—"

"Now, Iris!"

"Okay, okay," Iris muttered, hurrying behind the counter. Sage stumbled over to a nearby high-top table and used it to help keep her up. Her slow beating heart thudded hard against her chest and her head held painful explosions, like fireworks being shot off in the confined space. "Here ya go," Iris said, announcing her presence as she came back with the steaming mug of coffee.

Sage couldn't get her gloves off fast enough. She had to bite on the tip of one of the fingers to pull the other off. In a flash she grasped the mug in her hands and began to chug the steaming liquid. Ignoring the expression on her cousins' face and the strong burning sensation on her tongue she kept drinking, feeling heat fill her up from her feet up to her head. She set the mug down with a clamor and exhaled a long, satisfied breath.

The pain pangs on her head ebbed away as the seconds ticked by. She could feel the heat in the mug slowly seep into her palms and warm up the cold, tingling fingers that curled around the heat source. She waited breathing and exhaling deeply as her heart beat fell back into its normal rhythm. Only when she felt like she could stand on her own two feet without passing out did she drop into the chair and manage a smile. "Can I have another?"

"I think you're taking your addiction to a whole new level," Iris muttered.

"Hey, I get a tab. I can have as many as I want. Aren't I your bet customer by now?" Sage asked, waving her hand, batting away Iris's concerns. The further away from the subject Iris was the better.

"True…" Iris replied, tapping her chin. She allowed herself a smile and moved to go behind the counter again.

"So you're awfully calm for someone who almost got hit by a car," Sage pointed out, looking Iris over as best as she could with the counter in the way. There were no bumps or bruises or scratches on her as far as she could see. "What in the world were you doing in the street anyway?"

"I wasn't in the street," Iris replied while combining ingredients for Sage's caramel macchiato. "Barry and I were walking and talking and some car jumped the curb and almost hit us but Barry got us out of the way."

"Barry Allen?" Sage repeated, one of her eyebrows lifting. "Scrawny, string bean Barry Allen knocked you out of the way of a car?" When Iris nodded she snorted. "Does that sound funny outloud to only me? I mean, this is the same guy who once gave himself a blackeye with a pizza box. A _pizza box_."

Iris did her best not to smile at the memory. Instead she shrugged and said, "Yeah, that Barry Allen."

"What were you talking about?"

Iris didn't respond right away. She took her time adding whipped cream to the drink and carried it over to the table. She set it down and lifted herself up into the seat opposite her cousin. Iris tapped her finger against the table and waited for Sage to take another sip of her drink before answering. "Barry knows about me and Eddie."

"Mmm," Sage hummed. She licked excess whipped cream off of her mouth. "I _still_ don't get what you see in the Nick Carter wanabe."

"Sage, he's not a Nick Carter wannabe," Iris admonished.

"Yeah he is! Look at him. Blond hair. Blue eyes. A pretty boy. Check, check, and check. At least NC doesn't brag about all his feats. I mean, how many times did I have to hear about you telling me about his record of…detectiveness?" Sage didn't wait for Iris to answer. "Too many, Iris." She leaned forward until only a little space remained between their faces and she whispered, "_Too many._"

"You're grossly exaggerating," Iris said, clicking her tongue. "Anyway, that's not the point."

"What _is_ the point then?"

Sage sat back and listened as she explained everything that had gone on earlier that day: that Barry kept disappearing and they ended up talking about her dating Eddie and how Uncle Joe still didn't know and that she almost got hit by a car that Barry claimed to have been driven by Clyde Marton. But that wasn't the weird part. Well, Clyde Marton apparently being alive and robbing banks _was_ weird but it was the fact that he would disappear as storms broke out of nowhere.

It sounded like something in a comic book.

"So…someone's going around robbing banks and during each robbery some freak storm pops up?" Sage asked slowly as her mind tried to process what she had just heard. None of this could be true but, then again, she never thought she would have to worry about freezing anyone to death. "So he tackled you out of the way of a car, got into a fight with Uncle Joe, and now he's…gone?"

"Yeah," Iris relied. "I tried calling him, texting him…do you think he's okay?"

"It's Barry. When has he ever been 'okay' to start with?" Sage asked in a dry manner. But Iris didn't crack a smile at Sage's teasing. Sage cleared her throat and brushed her hand across her nose while clearing her throat. "Okay, sorry, not funny. Ris, he's probably fine. How many fights has he gotten into? Despite all that he's managed to live to see twenty-five. I think he can handle himself."

"But he just got out of a coma," Iris pointed out. "We don't know if it had any side effects. What if he lost some of his memory? What if he's wandering around somewhere?"

"Relax," Sage uttered. "He's like a puppy. He'll come back around dinnertime. Anyway, let me tell you about my news. Some scout came by dance practice today and he's looking for a new act to perform at _Verdant_."

"No!" Iris gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "They're reopening!?"

"They are! Can you believe it? God, I hope I get it. Free trip."

"Free _drinks_ hopefully." At the shocked expression on Sage's face Iris continued, "Hey, I provide the coffee, you provide the alcohol."

"Fine, deal," Sage laughed, sticking out her tongue. "But don't go dreaming about the vacation just yet. He might not pick any of us."

"Then he's an idiot who doesn't know a good dancer when he sees it," Iris replied, her nose scrunching up in a rabbit-like way as she smiled.

Sage drained her mug and glanced at the clock on her phone. She made a mental note of at what time she got her caffeine and then slid off the chair. "Alright, I have homework so I might as well give it a shot so I'll see you later, Cuzzo."

"Be careful," Iris commented, looking over her shoulder and out the window. "It looks like a storm's coming."

* * *

><p>"Well, look who's finally up," Uncle Joe commented as Sage trudged down the stairs the next morning. He turned away from the refrigerator, shaking a carton of orange juice while watching her went straight to the kitchen table and flopped down in a chair. "You look well rested."<p>

Sage resisted the urge to stick her middle finger out at him. Well-rested wasn't the word she would use for herself. Not when she didn't get any sleep at all due to the sudden storm that popped up. Wind battered the house, lightning flashed, and thunder cracked above her head to the point she wound up in her closet with a blanket wrapped around her holding onto a flashlight and clutching her phone. The radio had something about a tornado on the outskirts of the city and she had stayed glued in the small space well past the all-clear was given.

"You're not funny," she grumbled, rubbing at her eye with the heel of her palm. "Where's Iris?" she asked amidst a yawn.

Uncle Joe handed her a glass of orange juice. She quickly set it down on the table and pulled her hands into the sleeves of her longsleeved shirt. "It's past nine. She went to work," he replied.

"Oh yeah," she mumbled. "Forgot." She grasped the glass between her two covered hands and took a sip of it. "You got back late last night," she noted.

"Yeah, we had to follow a lead out to a farm," Uncle Joe replied, resting his back against a counter as he took a sip of his own orange juice.

"So Clyde was there? He's actually alive?" Sage asked.

"Now, Sage, you know I can't discuss police matters."

Sage blinked. "You just told me you were following a lead. Haven't you already crossed that line?" she pointed out.

Uncle Joe moved to open his mouth but a knock sounding on the door stopped him. Sage leaned back in her chair to see the door open and Barry stroll through a second later. "Well well, where've you been stranger?" she called out, draping one arm across the back of her chair. "You suddenly have a hot date you didn't tell us about? We girls are suckers for injury stories. Even when they're attached to nerds like yourself."

Barry didn't roll his eyes or smile patiently at her teasing as he used to. Instead he kept his eyes trained on her until he stood by the head of the table. He broke his stare, cleared his throat, and looked over at Uncle Joe. "D'you mind giving us a second?" he asked.

"Yeah, sure," Joe replied, setting his glass down. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I just need to ask her something," Barry replied.

Sage and Uncle Joe exchanged matching looks of confusion but Uncle Joe did what he was asked and left the room. Sage dropped her arm in favor of lowering her chair and turning sideways to address Barry. "What's going on, Bare?" she asked, her eyebrows coming together. "You look like you saw a ghost."

Barry licked his lips and crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes scanned her face and for a while he didn't say anything. Sage shifted in her seat under his gaze and began fidgeting with the hem of the sleeves that covered her hands. She had just grasped her glass of orange juice and was about to take a sip when he finally spoke.

"What happened to you when the particle accelerator exploded?" he asked.

She paused, the glass barely brushing her lips. She breathed out and a very light crackling sound reached her ears as a layer of ice appeared on the edge. She quickly licked it away and set her glass back down. "You already know," she replied. "I got hypothermia and was stuck in the hospital for two weeks."

"That's all?" Barry urged.

Sage nodded her head. "That's all," she replied.

He sighed and scratched behind his ear. She watched him carefully, her muscles tensing in her shoulders and her back. He looked at her again. "Why won't you pick up your glass?" he asked.

"What? Barry, you're being weird. I just picked it up. You saw me," Sage said, standing to get some space between them. She went to the refrigerator and pulled out a small container of yogurt.

"With your hand," he stated. Sage stood and looked at him over the top of the open door. He stared back at her, holding her gaze. "Why won't you touch anything with your hand?" he reiterated. "You always wear gloves. And now you're using your sleeve."

"I'm just…weird," Sage replied, closing the door. "Can we drop it?"

"No," Barry insisted. "Something…something happen to you that night, didn't it?" he asked, watching her. Sage tapped a finger against her sleeve and the container in her hand. "Something weird. Something you can't explain. Something…"

"…Impossible?" Sage filled in for him, her voice a whisper. Barry nodded. She mimicked his nod, biting her lip.

"I think we need to talk," he said.

* * *

><p><em><strong>an**_ - And here we are with another update! I'm sorry it took so long. I was supposed to have it up on Tuesday to coincide with the Flash returning from hiatus but I kept getting distracted. But better late than never, right? So! Barry has deduced that Sage has powers, but how will this affect everyone? What did you think of Sage's symptoms?

Speaking of Tuesday's episodes, whoa. _Revenge of the Rogues_ was a great start to the rest of the season, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The Captain Cold/HeatWave dynamic was great (although a little cheesy sometimes) but overall the episode was great! It's turned be a bit into a Cisclin shipper (Cisco/Caitlin). They have a chemistry that I enjoy and I hope they implement that a little more in the future. What did you all think of it? And what did you think of this chapter? Please read and review!

P.S. I changed the cover image to a pic of Tinashe Kachingwe, the girl I'm using as Sage's "face".


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